Heemin Chung

Heemin Chung investigates the material potential of digital images as she translates them into the mediums of painting and sculpture. Her work investigates how technology shapes contemporary perception and impacts our existential conditions, capturing various emotional responses and communication issues encountered in urban environments as technology advances. Through poetic visual metaphor, she reimagines traditional painting genres, including landscape and still life, engaging in experimental techniques to explore texture and volume across digital devices and canvas. Positioning her practice as a response to orthodox painting techniques, Chung claims the tradition for herself: ‘Given its long history, I believe painting is an easy medium to detect changes in the way we see and perceive. This is why the medium is appealing.’

Through her studio practice, Chung has developed a keen interest in printing techniques as an extension of her approach to painting, which manifests in both her works on canvas and sculptures. She uses digital-modelling software to create 3D prints of images taken from the internet, transforming them into membrane-like sheets made from a transparent gel medium. ‘I’m attempting to transfer inkjet to the acrylic body in such a way that details disappear due to surface irregularities,’ she explains. Draped, tucked and pinched onto canvases and steel supports, the fabricated material creates echoed forms of the original digital image, reconfiguring the genre of the still life. 

Chung was born in Seoul, South Korea, where she continues to live and work. She received her MFA in Fine Arts from the Korea National University of Arts, Seoul in 2015, and has since exhibited her work in solo exhibitions at DOOSAN Art Center, Seoul (2023); Sindoh Art Space, Seoul (2022); Museumhead, Seoul (2021); Kumho Museum of Art, Seoul (2018); and PS Sarubia, Seoul (2016). She has also participated in numerous group exhibitions, including those at WESS, Seoul (2023); Nam-Seoul Museum of Art (2021); Eulji Art Center, Seoul (2021); Soorim Art Center, Seoul (2020); Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art, Ansan (2020); Rainbowcube, Seoul (2020); Platform L, Seoul (2019); Boan 1942, Seoul (2019); National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Gwacheon (2019); Hite Collection, Seoul (2018); Korean Cultural Center, Hong Kong (2018); and Archive Bomm, Seoul (2017). 

Chung was awarded the DOOSAN Arts Award in 2022 and has participated in the SeMA Nanji Residency, Seoul (2022); Sindoh Artist Support Program (2020); and MMCA Residency Goyang (2020). Her paintings and sculptures are housed in public institutions including the DOOSAN Art Centre, Seoul; Art Bank, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul; Seoul Museum of Art; and Kumho Museum of Art, Seoul.